Fuze



March 16, 1954 c. H. M. ROBERTS FUZE Filed Sept. 18, 1946 mm *m m um on Q ClaudiuHMRnherts Patented Mar. 16, 1954 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE (Granted under Title 35, U. S. Code (1952),

see. 266) Claims.

The invention described herein may be manufactured and used by or for the Government for governmental purposes, without the payment to me of any royalty thereon.

My invention relates to improvement in fuzes, particularly in connection with the use of shaped charges.

Shaped charges having conical cavities which have the effect of concentrating the blast leaving the cavity into a jet of intense penetrating power have been in use for a long time. During the present war, the addition of steel cones as liners for the cavities have made them more penetrating and persistent than unlined ones. This present invention does not apply to the shaped charge cavities per se, nor to the shape or angle of the lining of the cavities.

Shaped charge artillery ammunition with base fuzes, the type customarily employed, can be fired only at relatively low velocities because, due to the inherent delay of mechanical base fuzes, the ballistic cap crushes excessively at high velocities of impact, thus decreasing the required standoff and decreasing the effectiveness of the shell. On the other hand, if conventional nose fuzes adapted to give the necessary base initiation of the charge are assembled to the ballistic cap, crushing and distortion of the fuze and cap on impact at high velocity, especially at large angles of incidence, will cause malalignment of the fuze parts, thereby preventing dependable base initiation of the charge.

The primary object of this invention is to provide means whereby a conventional nose fuze may be mounted within the shell and attached directly to the shell body out of contact with the ballistic cap.

It is a further object of my invention to provide means of preventing axial malalignment of the fuze parts regardless of the crushing or dis tortion of the ballistic cap on angle impact.

It is another object of my invention to provide a firing pin for the fuze which will improve certainty of functioning on angle impact of the ballistic cap.

It is a still further object of my invention to provide a fuze for use in shaped charge projectiles whereby the functioning time of the projectile will be greatly reduced, thus materially increasing the striking velocity of the projectile.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent during the course of the following description.

The accompanying drawings forming part of the specification illustrate the manner in which I attain these objects. Similar numbers are used to designate like parts throughout the specification and drawings.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a section of a high explosive shell embodying my invention, the enclosed fuze and the booster for the shaped charge being shown in elevation,

Figure 2 is a transverse section taken on line 2-2 of Figure 3,

Figure 3 is a view generally similar to Figure l in which the fuze is placed further back from the nose of the shell,

Figure 4 is a transverse section taken on line 4--4 of Figure 3,

Figure 5 is a. longitudinal section of the fuze shown in Figures 1 and 3, and,

Figure 6 is an alternate firing pin arrangement for use with this invention.

Referring now to the drawings, particularly to Figure l, the numeral I0 designates generally a shaped charge artillery shell of a character adapted to be fired from a rifled barrel, and includes a ballistic cap or windshield II and a body portion I2. The body portion I2 is pro- .vided with a longitudinal cavity wherein the shaped charge I3, a booster I4, a detonator I5, and a funnel shaped cavity liner I 6 for concentrating the jet is contained, the said cavity liner being provided with an annular flange I! at its forward extremity for supporting the said liner and the attached booster I4 and detonator I5 on the annular shoulder I8 formed in the wall of the body portion I2. The body portion I2 is also provided with a rotating band I9 and an internally threaded opening 20 in its rear extremity to accommodate a base plug 20', and internal threads M at its forward end adjacent the shoulder I8.

The windshield I I is generally conical in form, its apex being rounded to form a nose 22 pro vided with a bore 23 to accommodate a contact pin 24, said contact pin 24 being secured in the bore 23 by a shear pin 25. Screw threads 26 are provided on the inside of the open end of windshield II. The windshield II and the body portion I 2 are united by means of a ring member 2? arranged for threaded engagement with the screw threads ZI and 26 of the said windshield body portion, respectively. The inside diameter of the forward portion of ring member 21 is enlarged to provide screw threads 28 and an annular shoulder 29, the" purpose of which will be pointed out later.

A fuze 30, which may be of a conventional 

